Free Market Coalition Urges House to Defund Suspicionless NSA Spying

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2013 – A free-market coalition today urged members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote yes on Reps. Justin Amash and John Conyers’ amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 2397). This amendment would defund the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs insofar as they target individuals who are not suspected of involvement in any national security threat.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute joined TechFreedom, FreedomWorks, R Street Institute, Less Government, Americans for Job Security, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, and DownsizeDC.org in sending a letter today to Members of the House of Representatives supporting the amendment.

Ryan Radia, Associate Director of Technology Studies at CEI, explained that the Amash amendment would still allow the NSA to obtain phone or Internet records of specific persons who are subjects of investigation. “We understand the NSA has a difficult job to do,” he said. “But Congress did not intend for the NSA to collect and store telephony metadata from millions of law-abiding Americans.”

“The NSA’s blanket surveillance of our phone and Internet records infringes on Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to be secure in our papers and effects, real and digital. And the program undermines users’ trust in their relationships with electronic communications service providers. We’re now asking Congress to ensure the NSA and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court stay within their proper statutory and constitutional bounds.”

>> Read the coalition letter here.